Château de Trécesson — the buried bride

OVERVIEW

The Château de Trécesson is a medieval castle in Brittany, in the commune of Campénéac near the Paimpont forest and on the edge of the Coëtquidan military camp. Its red schist walls rise straight out of the moat. It has been listed as a monument historique since 2012 and is private property.

HISTORY

The legend, which belongs to the Brocéliande cycle of Breton tales, has a young woman brought to the castle grounds on her wedding night by her own brothers and buried alive — discovered by a poacher hiding in a tree, who fetched help too late or was not believed. A second tale attaches to a room in the castle where phantom card players, the joueurs fantômes, are heard; a headless figure is also reported.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

**vetted = false.** The castle is entirely real and the legends are genuinely old Breton material — the Wikipedia article's own external links include an account of the joueurs fantômes — but no dated first-hand source has been found for either, and the accounts now in circulation are secondary. Kept because it sits inside the Brocéliande complex and the tradition is a regional one rather than an invention of a tour operator.

VISITING

Private, not open to the public. It can be seen from the road and across its lake; do not enter the grounds. The neighbouring land is a military camp.